What The Last 12 Months Of Marvin Gaye's Life Were Like

"Marvin knew if he ever touched Father, my father would kill him," Zeola Gaye would later say, per the Washington Post, "It was a mercy killing. Father took Marvin out of his misery."

Many close to Marvin Gaye believed that he committed suicide via his father. According to the Independent, a recorded conversation revealed his security officer warned Gaye that if he kept provoking his father, "he's told you what he'll do."

Perhaps so. But what is it called when someone takes a person out of the misery that they themselves inflicted? What do we make of a world in which a man is shot twice in the chest by his own father, and everyone declares it suicide?

Marvin Gaye's father, in his incredible power and cruelty, was regarded by the Gay family as nothing less than a force of nature. Marvin's mother, sisters, and even family friends later painted the tragic incident as an intentional provocation by Marvin Gaye.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).